The Codex Project

Now this is an intriguing happening. A respectable group of 40k net-celebs have joined forces in an effort to create a new online community. Their goal (which I share) is to create a respected central body that publishes and certifies fan created Codices and other rules. They have a vision of clubs and even some tournaments allowing the use of alla new online community certified Codices. Check out The Codex Project for the lowdown.

There might be something you can do to contribute! Rules, photos, artwork, layout, playtesting, editing and fluff writing are all required for a TCP codex. They are built by a team with a single leader - but that leader will be changed if progress stalls. They anticipate that it will take a long time for a Codex to reach certification from scratch - perhaps in the realm of 6 months to a year.

After hearing about the site on an episode of The Overlords podcast, I got very excited and went straight to the site. Ended up my introductory post on the forums was their virgin post! I have started posts linking to each of my fan Codicies - the Crimson Fists and the Death Guard. I am happy to contribute these rules to TCP in the hope of seeing some set of rules certified for these forces.

Oh by the way I have another Codex in the works - hopefully I'll have it ready to publish in a couple of weeks. Sadly I don't enough models to give it a proper playtest but hopefully TCP can help with that.

Send in the clowns...

The Battle Bunker Crash

I'm getting excited about a new tournament coming up on February 13th - the Battle Bunker Crash. It's of course being held at my local store The Battle Bunker, and the price is $30. This includes 4 games at 1500 points (it's going to be a long day) and lunch will be provided as we can crank up the BBQ. It's being organized by Josh, who is a regular club member and a great opponent. Expect favoritism to be shown towards Daemons and Dark Eldar ;)

Interestingly the winner is based solely on Battle Point scores - there is no comp! This is relatively rare in Australia and I am looking forward to pushing my list building and tactical skills to their limit. I usually play balanced lists that don't get punished by comp in my experience. It will be interesting to see what others bring. My only concern is that I dont want to be playing games against unpainted armies - I always make sure that my army is fully painted at tournaments.

Another novel twist is that they are going to provide 8 missions on the day, and the final 4 will be determined by vote. Not something I have heard of before - we will have to wait and see how this pans out.

I am thinking of bringing my Tau out of retirement for this. I've been playing my Crimson Fists recently and having fun, but I suspect that I am more competitive as a Shas'el. Tau are best at low points values as they quickly fill the FOC. I am going to take this opportunity to fill in a few gaps in my Tau collection and take the most vicious optimised list possible - the list is made but I'm not going to publish it until after the event :P Anyone got a spare Piranha or a couple of Broadsides lying around?

Starting a 40k Army: Tau

This is the start of hopefully a number of articles on beginning a new army. Basically I want to list off the units that are worth buying for each Codex from a beginner's viewpoint - units that aren't going to be played a couple of times and then left in the cupboard. I'll try to give enough advice to build a 750 point list that forms a strong foundation for a larger army.

Building a competitive Tau army doesn't leave you a large set of choices. But this is still an effective Codex in 5th edition if you take the right units and pay close attention to your tactics.

Breaking News: New FAQs! 3++ Saves for Everyone!

I don't believe that it has happened, but Games Workshop had finally done it! They released a number of FAQs an hour ago on their website, including Dark Angels and Black Templars.

Now all marine 'dexes have the same rules for Storm Shields, Typhoon missile launchers and Cyclone missile launchers. This is awesome news for loyal players, they truly deserve it. And I can play my termis as counts as Deathwing again, yay! I feel like a persistent itch has finally been scratched.

It appears that the following FAQs have been updated:

• Space Marines
  
• Space Wolves
  
• Blood Angels
  
• Dark Angels
  
• Black Templars
  
• Dark Eldar
  
• 40k Rulebook (very minor)
  

Feral Ork List

Recently we had a 750pt league at the Battle Bunker. Ty, one of the regulars at my local club, built an awesomely themed new army for the league - Feral Orks! Ty has a reputation for being highly fluff driven as you will see from the list he took (which was something like this):

Paper IG Tank Company

Whilst searching for new blogs to follow I somehow ran into this site. They have a bunch of Imperial Guard vehicle templates for download, which you then print out onto card stock and build a bunch of tanks from. Some of these templates are pretty damn cool, with some overlaid layers that need to be glued to card of .5 or 1mm thickness to give detail to the model.

As a total cheaparse this kind of thing really gets my imagination going. I always had a soft spot for the 4th edition Armoured Company list, and you can build something pretty similar these days (though inferior) with the Imperial Guard codex. So I started to think about how I would build an Armoured Company - and to make it as difficult for myself as possible I decided to aim for a measly 1500 point army. I'm sure its easy to expand from there.

In order to keep in the theme of not spending any money, I am going to use paper cutouts for the infantry models too! Haha just kidding, but I will save money by picking up a couple of boxes of Wargames Foundry Sci-Fi Greatcoat Troopers. This will supply all the infantry I need.

Chapter Approved: Crimson Fists

Chapter Approved: Crimson Fists
by Plague Marine

• Requires Codex: Space Marines

In the times directly after the Horus Heresy was defeated, the Space Marine legions were forced to split into smaller chapters 1000 marines in size - this was known as the second founding. The Imperial Fists legion was known for their self-discipline, loyalty and siege warfare skills. They split into three chapters: the Black Templars, the Imperial Fists and the Crimson Fists. Those chosen for the latter were the newest recruits to the chapter. Thus they were most strongly guided by the writings of the Codex Astartes and operated as a Codex chapter until recent events.

Unfortunately the Crimson Fists chapter recently suffered a near-fatal tragedy -  whilst fighting an Ork invasion of their home planet Rynn's World a missile misfire resulted in the complete destruction of their entire chapter monastery. Reduced to a shadow of their former strength, the Fists were left with a dangerously small amount of gene-seed to continue the chapter. However they have managed to survive this cataclysm and are now slowly rebuilding their numbers, recruiting heavily. In order to prevent another massacre that they could ill-afford, Chapter Master Pedro Kantor has been forced to avoid most open confrontations, instead focusing the efforts of the chapter in lightning strikes and guerilla warfare.

Even before the cataclysmic loss of their monastery, the Crimson Fists were experienced in fighting the greenskins. They have now dedicated their efforts to the eradication of the Orks and their kin. Because of their effectiveness against Orks and other greenskins, it is common for the Master of Weapons to distribute Hellfire rounds to every marine taking part in an engagement. Also, the Fists use a chemical they call 'Hellfire' promethium to increase the heat output of their flamer weaponry. This dangerously sensitive explosive is used whenever it can be obtained to fuel their flamers and heavy flamers.

Rules

Build a Crimson Fists force using Codex: Space Marines as a basis. Apply the following additional rules:

Kill the Ork

• All Crimson Fists models have the Preferred Enemy: Orks rule.
• Tactical squads may take a heavy flamer as a heavy weapon option for 5 pts.
• Any unit containing models armed with a storm bolter, bolter or heavy bolter may upgrade all those models with Hellfire rounds at a cost of 5 pts per weapon.
• Any unit containing models armed with a flamer or heavy flamer may upgrade all those models with 'Hellfire' promethium at a cost of 5 pts per weapon. The weapon then counts as twin-linked against models with a Toughness score.

Rebuilding the Chapter

• You must take a scout squad for every tactical squad selected.
• Only one 5 man Terminator or Assault Terminator squad may be selected in the army.
• Bikes never count as scoring.
• A maximum of 1 Land Raider (or variant) may be included in an army.
• A maximum of 2 vehicles of each of the following types can be included in an army: Dreadnought, Land Speeder, Vindicator, Predator and Whirlwind.

Other

• Any power fist or lightning claw can be made master-crafted for 5 pts.
• Only the following special characters may be selected: Pedro Kantor, Sergeant Tellion.
• Note: The Stubborness inherent in the Imperial Fists geneseed is tempered by the dire need of the chapter to preserve its members. Crimson Fist models are not Stubborn unless joined by Kantor.

Example Force: 1500 points

The idea with this list is to deploy the drop pod (with Captain) and scouts in the midfield, using the tacticals as a mini-Sternguard squad. The Devastators and Dreadnoughts sit in the deployment zone and lay down a steady stream of covering fire. The Dreads can tie up units trying to assault the Devs. Just a fun list I would like to have a game with! Now time to find an opponent to test it on...

Captain (128)
master-crafted lightning claw, storm bolter, hellfire rounds

10 Tactical Marines (305)
hellfire rounds, hellfire promethium; heavy flamer, melta; sergeant with combi-melta, master-crafted power fist
drop pod

10 Scouts (205)
extra close combat weapon, camo cloak; missile launcher; sergeant with master-crafted power fist

Dreadnought (125)

2 twin-linked auto-cannons

Dreadnought (145)

twin-linked lascannon, heavy flamer, hellfire promethium

2 x 1 Land Speeder (150)
multi-melta, heavy flamer, hellfire promethium

5 Devastators (170)
4 heavy bolters, hellfire rounds; sergeant with chainsword, bolt pistol

2 x 5 Devastators (270)

3 missile launchers

Coming Up: Rules for Crimson Fists

Next up I will be posting some house rules for playing a Crimson Fists force. This will be a set of rules that are applied on top of Codex: Space Marines in order to better reflect the structure and tactics of this chapter.
See here for my previous post on how I approach fan codices.

Unlike my previous Codex: Death Guard, these rules have not been created due to frustration with the current Codex. It is instead an attempt to make a fun army that plays a little differently to the vanilla Space Marines. These are definitely only intended for friendly games. As there are only a few changes to the standard codex I am calling it a Chapter Approved supplement rather than a distinct Codex.

There are two aspects of the Crimson Fists chapter that I am focussing on in the development of this supplement. Firstly they are a chapter dedicated to fighting Orks, even before the Rynn's World disaster that further intensified their greenskin hatred. This leads to a preference for flamers and heavy bolters in their weaponry. Secondly, they are rebuilding the chapter from a massacre that left only a small fraction of the force alive.  Expect to see scouts.

Note: I have not read the apparently heretical Soul Drinkers books by Ben Counter, so don't expect any of the content there to be reflected in my rules.